The constantly increasing demand in the last few years for steel strip which has been zinc-coated on one side, in particular for processing as car body sheet, has resulted in a greater need for installations which can produce strip of this type. However, since there is still a considerable demand for bilaterally galvanized steel strip, modern coating installations should be able to produce both types of coated strip, wherein the conversion from one-sided to two-sided coating should take place as rapidly as possible and at low cost.
An installation for one-sided and two-sided coating has been proposed (DE-A 33 13 218), of the type described above. This installation enables both one-sided and two-sided coating to be carried out satisfactorily but the change-over from one process to the other means that the installation has to undergo a series of conversion measures which are very costly in respect of labour and time. Moreover, a substantial break in production has to be taken into account since no treatment of the strip can carried out at that time.
It has also been already proposed (EP-A 0 064 922) to develop an installation for one and two-sided zinc coating in such a way that by conveying and pivoting a wide variety of installation components it is possible to carry out both process stages with the same installation. However, this installation has the disadvantage of very complex mechanical and kinematic mechanisms which, in the event of breakdowns, result in even longer installation down-times and production stoppages. This also applies when parts of the installation have to be maintained, replaced or cleaned.